On a recent visit to the very cool Fenix museum – an art museum about immigration in Rotterdam that opened last year – I saw this “World Passport”. Nice idea and piece of art, I thought. “If only this existed”. And I took a picture.
The concept stuck though, and I started reading more about it at home. It turns out this is not an art project. It’s for real!
Since 1954, the World Service Authority (WSA – yes, the website also seems to have been launched in 1954) has been issuing World Passports. They’re machine readable, are printed on real “ghost security passport paper” and cost $75 for 3 years (you can donate more).
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises freedom of movement as a fundamental human right. The World Service Authority (WSA) rightly claims that the national passports used by governments today actually limits this right by controlling who can travel and where.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including one’s own, and to return to one’s country.
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The World Passport pushes back against this. It’s a travel document that doesn’t show your nationality (only where you were born) making it neutral and non-political. It exists as a statement that freedom of travel is a basic human right, and as a practical tool for people who want to exercise that right outside the traditional national passport system.
With all my heart, I believe that the world’s present system of sovereign nations can only lead to barbarism, war and inhumanity, and that only world law can assure progress towards a civilized peaceful community.
Albert Einstein
The WSA was launched by Garry Davis, who renounced his US citizenship in 1948, declaring himself instead a citizen of the world. In the same year, he interrupted a UN session by proclaiming “We, the people, want the peace which only a world government can give”.
The FAQ on the website are also very much worth reading. The arguments are just watertight, and really nice food for thought. A few excerpts:
But isn’t the right of freedom of travel determined by the nations?
No, not the right but the practice […] Through the national passport and visa system imposed on the world citizenry they deny and thus violate their pledged confirmation of human rights.
Why can’t the nations make world peace?
Nations, by definition, are mutually exclusive […] [nation states] breed fear, threats, and war as the final option..
Is world citizenship compatible with national citizenship?
National citizenship is exclusive. World citizenship is inclusive […].
National citizenship is an 18th century political fiction rendered obsolete by major world revolutions: technological, electronic, nuclear and space.
Now, can the World Passport be used?
Unfortunately, not really it seems. Although 185 different countries have at least once issued a visa, and WSA can “prove” the passport has been used to cross the border in 6 countries in the past, it’s likely many of the stamps were attributable to the ignorance of individual officials.
Still, it’s very tempting to try to get it stamped at the border. And a great statement in these times of senseless nation wars. I think I’m going to apply!
